The present invention relates generally to marksmanship training aids, and more specifically to an optical system for displaying and recording the same image as viewed by a shooter through a rifle sight.
Military forces and civilian police forces include as part of their arsenals elite snipers trained to operate in difficult environments. With the increased threat of terrorist activity around the world, the availability of well-trained snipers is imperative. Training is costly and time-consuming and, particularly in the case of the military, which has a constant turnover of personnel, more efficient and faster training methods must be developed.
The prior art includes a variety of shooter training aids adapted for rifles and for larger weapons such as artillery. The prior art for artillery, or gunnery, training includes a viewing device which fits over the eyepiece end of a gun sight (where the gun sight is not attached to the gun barrel or barrels). A prism redirects part of the gun sight image to a flexible optical fiber to deliver the gun sight image to a remotely located instructor and to a recorder for later playback and analysis of the training exercise. The older prior art for rifle training includes apparatus for mounting a film camera onto a rifle sight and for activating the camera shutter at the same time as the rifle trigger is pulled. More recent prior art for rifle training includes a video camera mounted at the eyepiece end of a telescopic rifle sight.
Unfortunately, these prior art training devices are either large and unwieldy (which is not usually a problem for artillery or gunnery sights) or, in the case of newer rifle training aids which use more recently available smaller video components, the optical and video components are still mounted at the eye end and behind the rifle sight so that even the lighter weight of these newer components is sufficient to throw a rifle off balance, a particularly severe problem when training with sniper rifles.
Generally, the only part of a sniper rifle touched when it is fired is the trigger by a shooter's finger. The front of the rifle rests on a support and the rear only rests against the shooter's shoulder. Their balance is so sensitive that shooters must learn to control their breathing and even their heartbeat.
Another problem with prior art marksmanship training aids is that they generally are not weather resistant. As such, they are mostly limited to use as training aids and fuller advantage of the fact that a second target display identical to the image viewed by the shooter will find valuable use in the field cannot be made.
Thus it is seen that there is a need for an improved marksmanship training aid that is particularly suitable for use with sniper rifles.
It is, therefore, a principal object of the present invention to provide a marksmanship training aid for displaying and recording the image seen through a rifle sight by a shooter that is lightweight and will not detrimentally upset the balance of a rifle.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a marksmanship training aid that is weather resistant.
It is a feature of the present invention that it can be quickly and easily attached to and removed from a rifle in the field.
It is another feature of the present invention that it is easy operate and maintain.
It is an advantage of the present invention that it provides a lower profile than prior art marksmanship training aids.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent as the description of certain representative embodiments proceeds.